How to Catch a Star
This week our focus book has been How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers.
Our word of the week has been reflection and we looked closely at shiny and dull objects. The children where challenged to find objects they could see their reflection in.
‘I can see my reflection in the tv. Look at my angry face!’ Leo
‘I can see myself in these glasses, my mouth is moving.’ Noyan
‘I found a shiny bowl, I can see myself on the side.’ Billie
Phonics
This week, we focused on the new digraphs sh, th, ng and nk.
We’ve also learnt the tricky words; she, he, of, go, no
Tricky words are words that should be read by sight. We start by identifying which part of the word is ‘tricky’.
Please continue to revisit this week’s sounds, by using the learn at home sheets. Thank you.
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is called Mice by Rose Fyleman
I think mice are rather nice.
Their tails are long, their faces small,
They haven’t any chins at all.
Their ears are pink. Their teeth are white.
They run around the house at night.
They nibble things they shouldn’t touch.
And no-one seems to like them much.
But I think mice are nice.
Next week our focus story is Owl Babies by Martin Waddell.
Night Monkey, Day Monkey
We have had another busy week in reception, our focus book this week has been Night Monkey, Day Monkey by Julia Donaldson and Lucy Richards.
We have talked a lot about the things we do during the day at school and things we do at night at home.
Our word of the week was: Nocturnal, the children have enjoyed exploring the different animals that are nocturnal and active at night.
“Foxes and bats are nocturnal.”
“Hedgehogs are awake in the night.”
Help At Home: Draw a nocturnal animal and label it.
Phonics
This week the children have focused on the diagraphs zz, qu and ch and the phoneme z. we have also looked at words with s added at the end like hats, sits.
We’ve also learnt the tricky words: go, no, to, into, his
Help at home: Please look at the ‘learn at home’ phonics sheet. The sheet links to all the phonemes we have covered this week. Please support your child by practising these at home.
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite the poem each day. By saying the poem out load we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line.
this week our poem was A Basket of Apples
I’ve got a basket of apples, picked from a tree.
Apples rosy red for you, and shiny green for me.
Some of them are big, and some of them are small.
Some of them are oval, and some shaped like a ball.
Some of them are sour, and some of them are sweet.
Lots of lovely apples for you and I to eat.
Help at home- we talked about the vocabulary oval (shaped like an egg) and sour (tastes like lemon or vinegar) tell your grown up what these words mean.
Maths
In Maths, we have begun to explore composition by focusing on the concept of ‘wholes’ and ‘parts’. The children have explored their own bodies and familiar toys to begin to understand that whole things are often made up of smaller parts and that a whole is, therefore, bigger than its parts. We have made whole faces by adding different parts of eyes, ears a mouth and a nose and put the parts together to make a whole monkey.
Help at home: Sing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes to your grown up and tell them some of the parts you have on your body that make up the whole of you.
Next week our focus book is How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers.
Thank you also to those who came to the Maths Stay and Learn session, please do get in touch if you ever have any questions. stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org
Have a happy and healthy weekend
Number stay and learn
It was great to see so many of you at our second Stay and Learn this week. We hope you enjoyed watching your child take part in some fantastic maths learning! We’d love to hear your feedback.
There are 4 more Stay and Learns this year – find the dates here.
For those of you who were unable to attend, please find attached the PowerPoint shared at the meeting.
World Nursery Rhyme Week
This week has been World Nursery Rhyme week. We have had a great week celebrating our favourite Nursery Rhymes and have focused on a range of different nursery rhymes and we have been singing them (even more!) at carpet times.
Help at home: Sing your favourite Nursery Rhyme and send a video of you singing it for us to share in class.
Odd Socks
On Monday, we wore odd socks to signify our differences and share the message that we are all different in some way. We discussed how important it is to celebrate our differences and respect everyone.
Phonics
This week, we focused on the new GPCs (Grapheme-phoneme correspondence) v, w, x, y.
We’ve also learnt the tricky words; and, has, his, her. Tricky words are words that should be read by sight. We start by identifying which part of the word is ‘tricky’.
Please continue to revisit this week’s sounds, by using the learn at home sheets. Thank you.
Poetry Basket
Children love listening to and joining in with poems each week. We learn a new poem every Monday and recite it together throughout the week.
Saying the poems out loud helps us focus on sounds, rhythm and rhyme, which supports our early reading skills. We’ve noticed that some poems have a fast and lively beat, while others are slow and gentle.
Shoes
Before I jump into my bed,
Before I dim the light,
I put my shoes together,
So they can talk all night.
I’m sure they would be lonesome,
If I tossed one here or there,
So I put my shoes together,
For they are a friendly pair.
Reminder
Next Tuesday is our Maths Stay & Learn session for parents. Once the children are settled on the carpet, we’ll invite you into the classroom to watch a short maths session. After that, there’ll be a variety of maths challenges for you to enjoy with your child. To finish the session, I’ll deliver a short presentation all about maths in Reception. We look forward to seeing you there!
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon, Miss. Feldman, Mrs. Linton and Mrs. Cairnes
Potion Commotion
We’ve had so much fun with our book of the week Potion Commotion, we enjoyed hearing about Betty, making her own potion and saving the town from the hungry dragon.
Our classroom challenges included finding ingredients from in the garden to add to a potion and to make a trap to catch a dragon.
“I put sticky tap at the end so he will get stuck inside.”
“I’m going to trap him inside this big tub, we could put a biscuit in to make him come in.”
Maths
This week, we’ve been engaging in activities that highlight the purpose of counting – finding out how many objects there are altogether. We’ve reinforced our understanding of cardinality, recognising that the last number we say when counting represents the total number of objects in the set.
A key focus has been deepening our understanding of the number 5 as a quantity. We’ve been linking the number to familiar representations, such as the five fingers on one hand. The children are also beginning to explore different ways to represent numbers up to 5, using both their fingers and the Hungarian number pattern (die frame).
Help at home: Draw a hand on a piece of paper and collect 5 objects.
Reminders
- Odd Socks Day – Monday 10 November
Children are invited to wear odd socks to school today, marking the fact we’re all different in some way. - Children in Need: non-uniform day – Friday 14 November
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon, Miss. Feldman, Mrs. Linton and Mrs. Cairnes
Do you have a child due to start primary school in 2026?
A video and FAQ’s are available for more support and guidance with applications.
Light and dark!
Autumn 2-Light and Dark
Welcome back! We hope you’ve had a lovely half term and are feeling well rested. This half term our overall theme is Light and Dark.
We’ll be using the following focus books to help us with our learning
See you all in the morning for some fun challenges and some learning about St James.
Training day – Arty Ideas
We thought you’d enjoy hearing a little about what went on during our recent teacher training day! Part of the day was dedicated to developing our art knowledge and skills with our resident art teacher, Mrs Boulton.
Teachers got hands-on with paints, pastels and even soap! There was plenty of colour, laughter, and even a bit of friendly competition as we experimented with new techniques and ideas for upcoming art lessons.
The rest of the day focussed on other important areas too, including maths and inclusion. It was a full, productive day – and we left feeling ready and excited for the next half-term!
Leaf Man
It has been another fun filled week in reception, our focus book has been Leaf Man by Elois Ehlert.
In the book autumn has come, the wind is blowing and Leaf Man is on the move. No one is sure where he is going, but ‘A Leaf Man’s got to go where the wind blows.’ Our word of the week was ‘seasons’ we have talked about the four seasons winter, spring, summer and autumn. We have really enjoyed learning about the season of autumn, when the leaves fall from the trees, when some small animals like hedgehogs are looking for food to store and some animals begin to hibernate like a door mouse.
Help at home: Go on an autumn hunt and see if you can spot signs of autumn like acorns, pine cones, squirrels conkers and more. Don’t forget to send in some pictures to add to our seasons display.
Poetry Basket
This week our poem was Five Little Pumpkins.
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, ‘Oo, it’s getting late.’
The second one said, ‘There are witches in the air.’
The third one said, ‘Well I don’t care.’
The fourth one said, ‘Let’s run, run, run.’
The fifth one said, ‘Let’s have some fun.’
But oooh went the wind, and out went the light,
And five little pumpkins tumbled out of sight.
Phonics
This week the children have recapped all the phonemes (the sound a letter makes) we have covered so far this term. We have focused closely on our blending, the skill that helps us with our reading and our tricky words the, is and I. Keep up the great work everyone!
Maths
In Maths, some of our teddies have been arguing over who has more things. we have used the stem sentence
“… has more than..”
“…has fewer than…”
The activities this week have focused on developing the skill of comparing as children have been encouraged to look carefully and use the language of comparison to describe sets of objects.
‘Fewer than’ is used rather than ‘less than’ because the focus is on countable things.
Have a happy and healthy weekend
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon, Miss. Feldman, Mrs Linton, Mrs Cairnes and Mrs Small